


not clickbait

by meteor-sword (vaenire)



Series: Zukka YouTube AU [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, Sokka (Avatar) Has ADHD, Youtube AU, background kataang, background mailee - Freeform, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:21:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26521348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaenire/pseuds/meteor-sword
Summary: 5 times Zuko and Sokka did not realize they were already dating, and one time it clicked-(youtube video entitled: i accidentally started dating my friend??? not clickbait!!!)
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Background: - Relationship, Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zukka YouTube AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827688
Comments: 35
Kudos: 329





	not clickbait

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel to "@boomerang-guy", and while you might feasibly read it without reading the first installation, it might be a bit confusing, so please check out the series info! <3
> 
> also if the tea parts are hard to follow and you're interested, please watch a video about "gong fu cha" or how to use a gaiwan! LOL

This was surreal, in Zuko’s opinion. 

Zuko hadn’t expected Mai to text him that morning, telling-- rather than-- asking him to be available at the tea shop in the early afternoon. He’d known that Ty Lee had recently come home from school for summer break, and he was expecting them to be stopping by to say hi sometime soon. 

Just… not today. 

It had been almost a week since his impromptu trip to the museum with Sokka (and a week of waiting for Sokka to text him again), and he was just about to give up hope that he was actually interested in coming back to the tea shop when he’d gotten a text in the morning asking if he would be in around 3 ‘o’clock. 

_ “It’s when my classes get out,”  _ Sokka had explained, though Zuko needed no explanation. He agreed right away, perhaps responding a little too quickly to seem cool and collected about it. Did people pay attention to that? He didn’t know, but he sure hoped not. 

The text from Sokka was followed closely by the text from Mai. 

And now Mai and Ty Lee sat at the table in the back room of the shop, chattering away as Zuko refilled teapot after teapot of the good puer-- the kind that was too expensive to give samples loosely, yet Iroh insisted on Zuko indulging his friends with it. Iroh knew Mai had a discerning taste and would appreciate it, Zuko figured. 

“But enough about me! Zuko, you’re so quiet today!” Ty Lee said as she finished telling him and Mai about her near dozen extracurriculars she picked up in her first year at university. 

“What, me?” Zuko asked. He tried to give a look of innocent surprise, but he knew she already picked up the scent of something out of sorts. Ty Lee could sniff out a new bit of gossip from a mile away. She could look you in the eye and read your thoughts, too, Zuko was pretty sure. 

She smiled at him thin and wide, with a happy glint in her eye that made Zuko uneasy, before turning that knowing look to Mai, who returned it. 

“What?” 

“I’m hungry,” Mai said. “Let’s get  _ bao _ .” 

“Uh,” Zuko said, thrown by the subject change and not sure if Mai was working in his favor or against it, but knowing that choosing a  _ bao _ place would turn to  _ dim sum _ which would lead to walking up the hill to Ty Lee’s favorite honey toast spot for dessert and ultimately cause Zuko to miss Sokka’s visit. “I’m actually busy.” 

“But you’ve just been hanging out with us for like two hours and your uncle hasn’t even come looking for you!” Ty Lee countered. “And I haven’t had real authentic Fire Nation  _ bao _ in months!” 

“Don’t let me hold you two back!” Zuko protested. “Uncle has things for me to do, and stuff.” 

“Really? It doesn’t seem like it,” Mai said. “Why are you being so weird about getting  _ bao _ ?” 

“I just have plans, is all,” Zuko said, hoping they’d drop it if he was aloof enough about it. 

His phone, sitting on the table, buzzed at that moment. He looked at it, and then at Ty Lee and Mai, and there was a moment of calm before all three of them were trying to snatch it. Zuko was outmatched from the onset, though. When Ty Lee slapped his grasping hand, Mai grabbed the phone and pushed her seat back from the table, deftly typing in his passcode. 

“Who’s ‘Sokka’?” 

“No one!” Zuko exclaimed, jumping to his feet and leaning over the table to try and grab his phone back. “Give it here!” 

“If he’s no one,” Ty Lee said, giggles already bubbling in her voice as she looked over Mai’s shoulder and held an arm out to hold Zuko back, “what’s with the emoji by his name?” 

It was still the tongue-out emoji Sokka himself had put there, but Zuko had no answer as he tried to shove Ty Lee’s hands out of the way. “Come on, give it back!”

Mai was scrolling up-- and he knew she would be disappointed with how little they had talked via text. Somehow Zuko found it harder to carry conversations in text than in Instagram DMs, which was stupid. 

“If he’s no one just reschedule with him” she said with a quirked brow. “He says he’s running late, anyway.” 

Zuko pursed his lips. “Please give me my phone back,” he said firmly. Mai smirked but acquiesced, and Zuko quickly checked the time (2:56) and what Sokka said. 

_ “Sry, im running late, bus is late D:” _ . 

“ _ I’ll be there by 3:15 i think!!!” _

“He’s already on his way,” Zuko said defensively, “I can’t reschedule!” 

“So who is he?” Ty Lee asked, eyes shining as she leaned her chin on her hands, elbows on the table. “You can’t just keep stuff like this from us!” 

Mai was scrolling through her own phone, seeming to have lost interest in the conversation. Maybe she was looking up restaurants nearby. 

“Stuff like what? He’s just a guy,” Zuko started, “I started giving him a tea demo before and he got interrupted so he wanted to come back and finish. That’s all.” 

“Oh, I see,” Ty Lee said, but her eyes said  _ I’m going to drag the story out of you eventually _ . 

“No fucking way,” Mai said, still looking at her phone. She held it up to show Ty Lee and Zuko: Zuko’s Instagram post from nearly two weeks ago, of his flower drawing he’d made after watching one of Sokka’s videos. “It’s that guy, isn’t it? From Youtube?” 

Ty Lee made a sound somewhere between a gasp and screech. “Let me see!” she demanded, and Mai handed over the phone. “You painted him a flower? And now he’s coming for tea? Zuko!” 

“Shut up!” He was about to say  _ it’s not like that _ but it was no use. It wasn’t ‘like that’ because Sokka was just… nice. That’s all it was: clearly Sokka was quick to make friends, easy to talk to, and overall a genuine, charismatic guy. Even more so than his videos made him out to be, impossibly. 

“I don’t know, he’s pretty cute,” Ty Lee said, evidently having followed Zuko’s tag on the post and now scrolling through Sokka’s pictures. “You don’t think so?” she said after spotting Zuko’s blanche. 

“I…” he said. “That’s not the point! The point is, he’s coming for a purely educational tea demonstration and I can’t just ditch because you want  _ bao _ . So, go get some if you want, but I’m staying right here.” 

Both girls looked at him with brows raised, then at each other. He should have held his tongue, he realized, when they smiled at each other. 

“No,” Mai said. “I can wait.” 

“I think we’ll stay right here,” Ty Lee agreed. “We can get food later.” 

Zuko stared at them wide-eyed for a moment. Damn it. 

“You guys…” he said, rubbing a hand over his face. “ _ Don’t _ be embarrassing.” 

“Embarrassing? We’d never do that,” Ty Lee said happily. “I just don’t want to miss the opportunity to meet one of my  _ best friend’s _ new friends. I barely get to see you! You wouldn’t deny me the opportunity, do you?” 

Zuko closed his eyes instead of being faced with her puppy dog eyes. He grumbled a “No” and rubbed his temples. 

The bell above the door in the front room of shop chimed then, and Zuko felt himself jump, all three of them listening for a moment before Iroh’s voice came. “Nephew,” he called, “Someone is here for you.” 

Zuko ignored the smirk Mai shot at him as he stood, swiftly crossing to the curtain separating the back and front rooms. Sure enough, Sokka stood there, floating awkwardly between the jars of tea and the front door and the register where Iroh was. He brought his hand up to his chest and wiggled his fingers in an awkward hello. Zuko returned the gesture. 

“Uh,” he said, realizing he had put aside all the teas for sampling behind the table in the front room, and suddenly struck by the choice of moving Mai and Ty Lee to the front, or inviting Sokka to the back and having to bring the tea and teaware back while Sokka waited with the girls. Sokka was going to hate him for not giving a warning about the girls, but it was too late to do much damage control. 

Iroh made the choice for him, waving Sokka toward the curtain. “You’re not on the clock, nephew, have fun.” 

Zuko saw the little head tilt Sokka made at Uncle’s words, and Zuko hid his cringe by standing to the side and holding the curtain back. “Yeah, we can sit back here,” he said awkwardly. “Um, I had some friends stop by so…” he trailed off, ignoring the way Ty Lee was vibrating with excitement in the blurry corner of his vision. “That’s Ty Lee, and that’s Mai,” he said as he pointed to each of them. “I have to grab the stuff.” 

“Cool,” Sokka said with a bright smile-- and Zuko never should’ve worried about someone like Sokka being unhappy with more company. He was the “social” type, or whatever. 

Zuko tried to gather the various bags of tea and  _ gaiwans _ as quickly as possible, trying to figure out a way to carry it in one trip.

“Try not to drop those, nephew,” Iroh intoned from where he sat behind the counter-- and then he was beside Zuko, grabbing two of the  _ gaiwans _ for him and, after Zuko flashed him a grateful smile, followed him back to the table and left with nigh another comment. 

“ _ Mei Mei _ goes there too!” Ty Lee said to Sokka, who had set down his satchel on the back of the chair to the left of Zuko’s and was already embroiled in some conversation with Ty Lee. Mai bristled performatively at the nickname. “What do you study?” 

Zuko took a seco nd to look at Sokka: he was wearing a denim jacket with an assortment of patches that Zuko couldn’t really make out without craning his head awkwardly, so he focused on setting out the wares. He grabbed a tea tray from a shelf, as well as a few spare cups there and a glass pitcher, strainer and a metal pick. He already had the water heater and jug of water from making tea for the girls, so he settled in his seat and refilled the heater. 

“I’m undecided still,” Sokka said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I always planned on doing physics, but all the classes I’ve taken so far have been a lot of fun…” he ended with a shrug. 

“Really? Like what?” Ty Lee’s eyes shined, alight with someone new to learn all about. 

“Uh, I took an engineering class and liked it a lot more than I expected, but also an English class about influences on Earth Kingdom poetry, and a three dimensional art class, and I really want to take more but I don’t know what I’d do with one of those degrees, you know?” 

“Maybe you can minor!” she suggested happily. “And major in engineering? It’s always good to be ‘well-rounded’,” she said the last phrase in a mockery of the voice the headmaster at their academy would make when talking about college admissions, and Zuko laughed under his breath. The joke was lost on Sokka, but her interest was not. 

“I don’t know, I feel like I’m always wanting to move on to the next thing, and I already had an internship with the SWT Municipal Utility last year.” 

“Really? That’s so cool-- you don’t want to keep learning about that?” 

Sokka shrugged. “I was going to Southern Waters College at the time, and if I wanted to keep learning about hydroelectricity I could’ve just stayed there. No one knows hydro like the tribes do. Or medicine! That’s probably one of the biggest draws down south-- the competition for the nursing program my sister’s in is something else.” He shrugged again. “I guess I wanted to try something new.” He scoffed now, and the water heater was near a boil. “I’m kind of over this whole uppity city feel here, though. I mean, it’s supposed to be so  _ progressive  _ in the city, but they’re still running campaigns to remind people to recycle? The whole electrical infrastructure back home is renewable and ecologically friendly.” He sounded like he could go on, but was holding himself back. 

“Well, the city’s almost entirely hydroelectrically powered,” Mai countered, and Zuko raised a brow at her. She shrugged a shoulder subtly. 

Sokka snapped. “That’s the thing! Hydroelectricity is renewable, right? But people misconstrue ‘renewable’ with ‘environmentally friendly.’ But look: depending on glacial conditions, sixty to seventy percent of the city’s electricity is provided by the arch dam a hundred miles north, and thirty to forty percent is from steam plants on the river inside the city. Both are renewable, right?” 

Ty Lee nodded, leaning in further. 

“ _ But _ \-- to keep it short-- the Northern Water Tribe has been trying to prove the dam’s involvement in declining fishery health, but most sites their archaeological and ecology teams could use to study it are under a hundred feet of water most of the time. And the steam plants!” He patted his cheek with a palm, dragging it over his face and wracking his brain for where to begin. “Again, long story short, theoretically they’re all nice, but when you induct river water, steam it, and release nigh  _ boiling _ water back-- with all the chemicals it picked up in the old, original pipes. It raises water temperatures, introduces pollutants in water and in the air with the steam. The river systems and all of the harbors and sounds are connected, so it affects everything. Even if those pollutants only affected, like, krill-- little fish eat krill and birds and bigger fish eat fish. And so on to the whales and dolphins and porpoises, and humans too. My Dad says when they would go on their summer fishing trips, the porpoises would swim along with them. That’s only twenty, thirty years ago, and we don’t have that anymore, and the steam plants are one of the biggest changes. Don’t get me started on the effects on oxygen levels in the rivers and how that harms the fisheries.”

Ty Lee was beaming. “Wow! So what does the Water Tribe do to make their hydroelectricity environmental?” 

The water was cooling to the right temperature, and Zuko took the lid off of one of the  _ gaiwans _ \-- the hand painted one Iroh got the last time they visited home-- and shook some rolled green oolong into it, eyeballing the correct amount. 

The  _ ting _ ing of the little balls caught Sokka’s attention, and he smiled at Ty Lee sheepishly.    
“I could talk for way too long on that.” 

She laughed at that and tilted her head in agreement. “Another time.” 

Zuko froze for a moment: she wasn’t  _ flirting _ with Sokka, was she? He shook the thought from his mind as soon as it crossed it. 

Ty Lee beamed at Sokka again. “But seriously, have you considered communications, or something like that? I could listen to you talk about anything forever.” Zuko raised his brow at that-- even if he agreed, she shouldn’t say it like that. 

“I haven’t, but maybe you’re onto something.” 

Zuko cleared his throat to gather their attention again.

He poured water into the  _ gaiwan, _ swirling it with the lid before setting it on the bowl’s lip, leaving a small gap. He set the strainer onto the pitcher's lip and poured the tea through, fluidly shaking any drops from the strainer and pouring a portion of tea into the four cups before pouring the remaining liquid onto the little clay badger frog from the pitcher and all four cups. 

Removing the lid again, he was pleased to find the leaves had unfurled somewhat, starting to show off just how large and high quality the leaves were. 

“So this is a fresh oolong,” Zuko began, holding the bowl toward Sokka so he could see, and then toward the girls on a second thought. “This one is my favorite because of the aroma,” he said, holding the bowl to his own nose and then holding it out for Sokka. 

“It’s sweet,” Sokka observed. 

“Yes,” Zuko agreed. “Oolongs are oxidized during their processing, and there is a lot of variety in flavor according to how oxidized they are. This only is lightly oxidized, which is why it’s more floral and sweet.” He poured water over the leaves again, watching them uncurl just that much more before replacing the lid, swirling the contents and pouring it through the strainer. This time he put the cups in front of each of his friends before dividing the tea among them. 

He watched as Sokka brought the cup to his mouth and took a careful sip, considering the flavor as he swallowed. 

“What do you think?” 

Sokka hummed. “It’s nice, but not as strong as the green tea. I don’t know, it’s softer?” 

Zuko gave a little nod as he poured more water in, “I’ll make this next brew stronger.” He let it brew twice as long-- almost thirty seconds-- this time before pouring and dividing it. 

Sokka hummed. “Yeah, I like that better. It doesn’t get very bitter, does it?” 

Zuko smiled, small but prideful as he ignored the smile Mai hid behind her cup of tea. “Oolong is designed not to get bitter like green or black tea.” 

“What temperature is this one at?” Sokka continued, watching as Zuko filled the  _ gaiwan _ for the third time. 

“I do it at 190, but my uncle likes it at 180,” Zuko said, swirling the tea. “This is his favorite type of tea, actually. He drinks ginseng oolong-- you can try it, but it gives me a headache.” 

Sokka shook his head: “Maybe another time, I wanna try what you picked out already,” he said nodding to the bags that Zuko had hauled back with him. Sokka brought the cup back to his mouth and Zuko ignored the way his stomach dropped as Sokka held his eye contact while he took another sip. “Oh!” Sokka exclaimed almost immediately, luckily bringing Zuko out of his reverie before he found himself staring at Sokka for too long, “I’m sorry, I meant to ask if you were in school.” He turned back to Ty Lee and Zuko quashed the butterfly floating around in his chest. 

“I just finished my first year at Kyoshi University! I’m studying Physical Education,” Ty Lee said, bubbly as ever. 

“Kyoshi? No way!” Sokka said. “My friend goes there! She’s probably in more advanced classes, and I.. don’t actually know what her major is called but she’s got an internship with a women’s advocacy group and she’s in charge of the Warriors martial arts club. I don’t know, you probably don’t know her,” he said, excitement turning to embarrassment when he realized how much he was sharing. 

“You don’t mean  _ Suki _ , do you?” Ty Lee replied excitedly. “You know her? I just joined the Warriors in Spring.” Her wide eyes turned to slits as she considered Sokka. “Wait, Water Tribe, handsome, smart… you’re not her ex-boyfriend, are you?” 

Sokka’s cheeks turned dark red. “She talks about me?” 

Zuko focused on pouring the third batch of tea, not looking at Sokka or Ty Lee. When Mai held her cup for him-- unusual, given how hot the tea was-- he looked at her. She quirked a brow at him. He squinted at her in answer. She rolled her eyes. 

“Well, we were making fun of her about something and she brought you up. We couldn’t get us to show us pictures though…” She sat up straighter. “OMG, we have to take a selfie, okay? Can we?” 

He raised his brows and looked at Zuko for help. 

“ _ L _ _ ǐ _ _ zi _ …” Mai started warningly, switching to the diminutive Ty Lee hadn’t let anyone call her in years, since they were kids. Mai, like with most things, was the exception. 

“I’m not making him do anything!” Ty Lee exclaimed in her defense. “I’m just  _ asking _ .” Even so, her phone was already out and the camera app opened. 

“Why did you want to see pictures of me before…?” 

“Okay, well she was making fun of one of the other Warriors having this dumb crush on this guy on crew and--” 

“ _ L _ _ ǐ _ _ zi _ ,” Mai said again. “I’m hungry. We should get going.” 

Ty Lee started to make a face at Mai until they made eye contact. Zuko saw the meaningful eyebrow raise and the understanding in Ty Lee’s eyes as Mai started to stand. 

“It was nice meeting you two,” Sokka said, nursing his teacup. 

"You too," Ty Lee said, grinning when she bent down to his eye level to grab her purse from where it had fallen off the back of her chair. "Maybe we'll see you around?" she said, directing the question toward Zuko with a cheeky glint in her eye. 

"Maybe," Sokka agreed perkily. Zuko glared at her. 

"Well, have fun!" Ty Lee said, ducking under Mai's arm where she held back the curtain for her. Mai shot one last knowing smile over Sokka's shoulder at Zuko. 

"Bye," Mai said, and Zuko returned it quietly as she let the curtain fall behind her. 

"They're nice," Sokka said when Zuko let the silence drag for a moment too long. "Friends from high school?" 

"Uh, yeah," Zuko said, setting aside the  _ gaiwan _ with the oolong leaves and grabbing a new one. "They went to school with my sister, so..." he trailed off, grimacing when he realized just how pathetic it sounded to admit his friends were actually all his little sister's, originally. 

"Oh, you have a sister?" 

"Yeah..." Zuko said as he unclipped the black tea bag and shook some into the new  _ gaiwan _ . "It's complicated," he said, nipping that uncomfortable conversation in the bud. "I have two sisters, actually." He turned on the water heater again. 

Sokka was good at talking and good at picking up on the little cues, thankfully, and he didn't push. 

"Mai seemed quiet," he observed. "You two...?" he trailed off as he took another sip from his cup. 

"Us two...?" Zuko repeated, then faltered when he realized what Sokka was asking. "Oh, no. Not… anymore,” he said lamely, wincing at himself. “Actually, uh, they're dating." He blinked. "Like, each other." 

"Oh! Oh, that's cool." They both nodded. 

Zuko poured water over the black tea. "So black tea is steeped with boiling or near boiling water." Sokka leaned his elbow on the table and propped his chin on his hand, watching as Zuko worked. Zuko tried to not focus too hard on the motions, knowing that it would just make his hand slip. 

"So what's that thing called, anyway?" 

Zuko frowned for a moment until he realized what Sokka was talking about. "Oh, a  _ gaiwan _ ?" 

" _ Gaiwan _ ? And you use that instead of a teapot?" 

Zuko nodded and poured the tea into the pitcher, using the first brew to rinse each of the teacups and pouring them over the clay badgerfrog again. 

"A  _ gaiwan _ is quicker to empty, so you can do shorter steeps. Lets you control it better." 

Sokka hummed, and then sat up abruptly, reaching down to his satchel and pulling out a journal and a pen and flipping it open to a spread. Zuko could see about a fifth of the page filled out with scratchy notes before Sokka drew a square in the upper right corner of the page where his notes hadn't reached all the way across. He wrote  _ gaiwan _ at the top of this square, and wrote a few bullet points below it. 

"You wrote down notes from last time?" Zuko asked, stunned when he realized the other notes had the headers 'white' and 'green,' the teas they'd managed to sample the week before. 

"Yeah, I didn't want to forget," Sokka said. "I, uh, have a tendency to remember really well until I don’t remember at all. Plus, I thought it would make a nice spread." He shrugged. "We just had oolong and now black tea, right?" Zuko nodded and watched Sokka scribble notes for each, including the temperature Zuko suggested and taste notes. 

"I thought your handwriting would be neater," Zuko said, then winced at himself. "Not that it's bad! Just with the way you write in your videos..." 

Sokka laughed. "No, I get what you mean. That's not really my handwriting. Calligraphy is more like art." He tapped his pen against his chin. "That doesn't make sense. It takes a lot longer to write in calligraphy than when I'm just taking notes." 

"Oh," Zuko said, feeling a bit dumb, "so it's like the calligraphy Piandao taught me. More expressive?" 

"Exactly. It's decorative!" 

Zuko refilled their cups.

"The next tea is  _ puer _ , and there are two kinds." Zuko had kept the puer out of Sokka's sight, to keep the element of surprise for the final teas. The first one he wanted Sokka to try was pressed into a firm brick, white and green and beige leaves all intertwined and wrapped in tissue paper, so he carefully unfolded it and grabbed the pick he'd left inconspicuously beside the tea tray and loosened a couple chunks, popping them into the second to last  _ gaiwan _ . 

" _ Puer _ is pressed into cakes for storage and fermentation, and historically for long distance trade. There are two kinds, and we'll try them both. The first here is raw, or  _ sheng _ . It's naturally fermented over years of storage." 

"So, it's just left on a shelf, like wine?" 

Zuko nodded. "It should be kept in certain conditions, but essentially yeah. This one is three years old, but my uncle has some really old ones. There's one that was pressed the year he was born, and he drinks it every year for his birthday. It's really good." 

"Wow," Sokka said. "So what's it taste like after so long?" 

"Well..." Zuko said, rinsing the puer quickly once and then twice, and then showing Sokka how the chunks had released into individual leaves in the hot water. He let Sokka smell it and didn't focus too hard on how long his eyelashes were when he closed his eyes to inhale deeply. 

"Smells... interesting. More astringent, but not sharp?" 

Zuko nodded, swallowing and grabbing the water heater to refill it with water. 

" _Sheng_ _puer_ can be steeped at 200, but I think it's better at a lower temperature. I'm willing to bet you might like it hotter, though." 

Sokka snorted. "And why's that,  _ fire prince _ ?" he asked, and Zuko inhaled sharply at the invocation of his Youtube handle, not to mention the  _ implication _ .

"I- you seem to like the more acetic flavors, is all!" he said, flustered and eyes darting around anywhere other than at Sokka's face. "I mean, you liked the green tea and steeping at a lower temperature mellows out the flavor, is all! So you'd like it hotter. The tea." 

Sokka laughed again, and Zuko couldn't help but look at him-- Sokka laughed with his whole head, mouth wide open, eyes scrunched closed and chin tipped upward-- and feel like even more of an idiot. Sokka was just making a joke. Zuko laughed too. 

Zuko went through the motions of the first brew, pouring it through all the teaware for a quick rinse and then onto the badger frog, and then poured the second batch between their cups. 

"Oh," Sokka said at the first taste. "That's different." 

"Good different or bad different?" 

Sokka took another thoughtful sip, clicking his tongue as he did. "It's sort of like the green tea, but it's sort of... like my Dad's herbal tea? But it  _ is _ a sharp flavor. I can't put my finger on it."

Zuko smiled, emptying the rest of the batch onto his badger frog. 

"So what's the deal with that?" Sokka asked, nodding to the frog. 

Zuko's smile widened: he'd been waiting for the question. "This is my tea pet. It's made from the same clay as some of the teapots my Uncle sells. It absorbs the tea, and in teaware it can enhance the flavor when you use it for the same type repeatedly. Tea pets absorb it and get darker the longer you use them." 

"So, they're... for fun?" 

Zuko shrugged. "I guess. You have to pour out the first batch with or without one, so you might as well have a little decoration, right?" 

Sokka smiled. "And yours is a badger frog?" 

"Yeah, and her name is Lili." 

Sokka's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"I wouldn't make that up," Zuko assured him, pouring the next brew from the  _ gaiwan _ to the pitcher and transferring it smoothly to their teacups. "This tea is really cool because it changes so much with each steep. Try it," he encouraged. 

Zuko tasted it at the same time Sokka did, and had to close his eyes to fully enjoy the way the tea had transformed; it shed some of the sharper notes that Sokka had commented on before, and more floral undertones came out. 

"Okay," Sokka said. "I like this one. I don't know if I like it better than the green, but I like this one a lot." 

"It gets better the more times you steep it, too," Zuko said. "This one can probably go for eight more steeps, but I don't know if you want to move on to the last one yet..." 

Sokka nodded. "Sure, of course. I don't know how long I've got you for, after all." 

His wording made Zuko falter. He didn't know what to say to that, because he didn't have any other plans for the day and he was certainly not going to be the one to cut this short. So he didn't address it. "The other type of  _ puer _ is  _ shou _ , or cooked. It's artificially fermented in a variety of ways, so while it can get better over time, it doesn't age like  _ sheng _ ." 

He unwrapped the round  _ shou _ tea cake. 

"Whoa, it's a lot darker than the last one," Sokka said as Zuko pried some pieces off with the pick again. "You said it was more fermented, but I didn't expect that." 

Zuko nodded. "Just wait till you see the color of the tea. I used to have a bit of a caffeine problem, and I weaned myself off with this stuff. Well, not 'off', but lessened it. It's really rich but smooth and not bitter at all the way coffee gets." 

"Really? Was it enough caffeine for you after drinking coffee?" 

"Not at first, so I had to drink a lot of it and then I could just drink less over time." Zuko shrugged, then laughed. "I really shouldn't have been so caffeine addicted at fourteen." He wouldn't mention why he had been, why he tried to avoid sleeping at home when he could, even if it meant pissing off his teacher when he fell asleep in class back then. 

Sokka didn't ask, though, and Zuko prepared the tea. 

"I think I like  _ puer _ . And green. Those are my favorites," Sokka said, grabbing his pen with his left hand as he brought his cup still full of  _ sheng _ to his mouth with his right. 

Zuko frowned as he emptied the  _ gaiwan _ . "You're left handed?" He could've sworn otherwise. 

"Ambidextrous," Sokka says without taking his eyes off the journal. "Speaking of which, how hard is it to use one of those?" he said, nodding to the  _ gaiwan _ . "Like, how do you not just drop it? I assume it gets hot." 

Sokka was right-- and he was observant, so Zuko was a little surprised he hadn't already seen the way Zuko handled the hotter teas differently. 

"Pour it quick," Zuko said cheekily. "Or don't fill it as much if it's going to be hot. My Uncle has calluses on his fingers from burning them, but I just do not have the tolerance to build those up whatsoever."

Sokka made a weird face then-- not a bad one, just a slight tilt to his head, a thin smile and thoughtful eyes as he watched Zuko for a moment, and Zuko felt pinned by it. Usually he would assume Sokka was looking at his scar and he would say something or look away to block the view, but it felt different when Sokka looked at him. Sokka opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the swish of the curtain. 

Iroh appeared there. "I'm locking up the shop for dinner, are you boys hungry?" 

Zuko struggled to find words to respond with, thrown by the sudden consecutive shifts, so he just nodded. 

"Will you help me bring some food down?" 

Zuko stood without a thought, then turned back to Sokka. "You'll eat with us, right? Is it okay if we leave for a moment? The front door will be locked." 

"Sure," Sokka said with an easy shrug of his shoulders. 

Zuko turned on his heel and followed his uncle through the storefront, standing beside him on the sidewalk awkwardly as he locked the door, and following at his heels around the corner to the entrance of the stairwell up to their room. 

"That boy seems very interested in tea," Iroh commented innocuously. 

"Yeah," Zuko agreed, ignoring the humorous look in his uncle's eyes when they reached the second floor platform. They passed another tenant in the hall, Zuko walking carefully along the side of the hall so as not to bump them-- though Iroh paid the man no mind, and the man moved far to his side to accommodate the duo. 

Iroh let them into their room, turning quickly to the wooden kitchen drawer in the corner and pulling out three bowls before grabbing the stool set on the shelf at the foot of the bed frame beside Zuko’s bedroll, and setting it beside the electric burner on the low table. He hummed as he ladled the five-flavor soup from the large pot on top of it into the bowls. 

"I hope he is interested in spicy food, as well." 

Zuko rolled his eyes: that didn’t even make sense. However, Zuko probably should have asked Sokka about that, now that he thought about it. 

As Iroh assured that each of the bowls were evenly filled, Zuko’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Thinking it must be from Sokka, and maybe something was going on downstairs-- a persistent customer at the door, or some other building tenant popping into the shop, he pulled out his phone. 

Instead he saw that Mai had sent him a link. He unlocked his phone and opened the conversation. 

_ “Ty Lee found this. Thought you might find it interesting.” _

He opened the link and felt his face heat up immediately. It was an old post of Sokka's, some years ago if his rounder face and short-shaved sides was any reliable indication. It was captioned  _ #SWTPride _ , and it was a series of images of him in a tricolor tank top, making up the bisexual pride flag. He linked arms with a girl with auburn brown hair and a boy with long dark brown hair and a horrible mustache, wearing a rainbow tank top and trans pride pin respectively. 

_ "Just saying," _ came another text from Mai. 

He took another look at the old picture of Sokka-- he looked happy in the picture, with no less than a dozen bracelets on his wrists, his hair styled in a way that let his bangs fall into his face. 

"Can you take these?" Uncle said, bringing Zuko out of his revery. He scrambled to shove his phone in his pocket 

He took two bowls from Iroh, balancing one on his forearm to take the third and let him stand again without balancing anything too precariously. Iroh turned the burner off and replaced the stool on its shelf, taking one of the bowls back after following Zuko back to the hallway and locking the door. 

"Something funny on your phone?" Uncle asked as they made their way down the stairs. 

"Huh?" Zuko asked, his mind having already returned to the picture Mai sent. "No!" Iroh must have seen him smiling at that post; Zuko tried to keep his voice even and convincing as he denied it. 

He could hear the shrug in his uncle's voice. "Okay." 

They were in front of the shop again in a moment, and as Iroh unlocked the door it dawned on him that the three of them would be eating together. Oh, agni. 

Iroh followed Zuko through the shop and to the back room, where Sokka still sat at the table looking at his phone. He looked up with a grin when he heard Zuko's approach, and Zuko placed one of the bowls in front of him. 

"I hope you're okay with spicy food." 

"I love spicy food," Sokka declared, though Zuko saw that confidence shake a little when he saw how red the soup in his bowl was. 

"Good, because this is my Uncle's famous fire noodles." 

"Some say I could have opened a restaurant instead of a tea shop," Uncle said as he sat in the seat Mai had previously occupied. He stroked his beard. "I do not know how well it would have done with only one dish." 

Sokka laughed, and Zuko was relieved. 

"Now," Iroh continued. "You are the Sokka that I've heard about, yes?" 

"I'm Sokka," he agreed, then quirked a brow. "You've heard of me?" 

Zuko could have burned a hole into the side of his uncle's face with how intently he was looking at him-- he hadn't mentioned Sokka by name to his uncle, he was pretty certain. 

"Yes, yes! Master Piandao mentioned you when he told me how glad he was to see Zuko last week." 

Zuko’s frown deepened. “When did you see Master Piandao?” 

Iroh took a sip from his soup and then shrugged. “Oh, I see him around. You know.” Zuko frowned and looked at Sokka, whose head was tilted over the bowl, noodles hanging out of his mouth as he struggled to control them with his spoon. He still mirrored Zuko’s curious raised brow, though. 

“How do you know Piandao?” Zuko pressed even as he stood to retrieve some chopsticks from the shelf against the opposite wall, having forgotten to snag them from the room. Sokka took a pair gratefully, as did Iroh. 

“Well, I am an old man and I have lived my whole life in this neighborhood. I have known Piandao since he was a boy!” he exclaimed with a big, vague hand gesture. “Although, I suppose at my age, you come to know every other old person one way or another.”

“You knew him as a kid? What was he like?” Sokka asked between bites of noodle and slurps of broth. 

Iroh hummed, taking his time with some noodles of his own. “Piandao is a good man, and he has dedicated much of his time to giving back to this neighborhood. A man of his skills could hold a position much higher than a museum program manager.” Iroh sighed, eyes still on his soup. “But it is important to him to give back here. He remembers being a troubled youth on these streets…” Iroh trailed off, avoiding the boys’ curious eyes. Zuko knew that Piandao was local, but Iroh had never talked about him. Zuko’s lessons with PIandao ended shortly before Zuko moved in with his uncle, and the thought crossed his mind now that that was why Iroh would keep their history to himself. 

“I worked the front desk of your grandfather’s hotels as a young man, and Piandao’s family had… issues. There were several times I slipped a warning to his mother that inspectors from the city were coming, because their family was too large for the room they could afford. Piandao enlisted to get out.” He shrugged again. “Returned a decade later and started teaching. He told me he was looking forward to having you two demonstrate for his swordsman class of at-risk youth.” 

“Oh,” Zuko said. Memories of Piandao taking notice of bruises Zuko got outside of sparring flashed across his mind with new clarity. 

“I knew he was in the military,” Sokka said quietly, “Didn’t know that’s why.” 

Uncle nodded solemnly. “And how did you come under his tutelage?” he asked when that solemnity seemed to melt away. 

Sokka smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and scratching through the hair on the back of his head-- and Zuko realized that his hair had grown out rather significantly since the photo Mai sent him. Rather than shaved, the sides of his hair were now two or three inches long, his wolf tail evidently even longer. “He had a program down south for kids of vets.”

Iroh hummed, but Zuko stared at Sokka for a moment-- wracking his brain to remember anything about Sokka’s father. 

“How long have you studied swordsmanship?” Zuko blurted out. 

“Uh,” Sokka said, tilting his head to look at the ceiling and think. “Four years? I stopped lessons after I graduated high school.” 

“Hm,” Zuko said. He had studied for eight years with Piandao, and continued on his own when he started with the martial arts group he met Toph through, the master allowing him to use the open space after the rest of the class left. It made Zuko itch to compare their abilities. “Did Piandao mention when he wanted us to come demonstrate?” he asked Uncle. 

Iroh stroked his beard and gave Zuko a knowing smile. “I believe he mentioned his lessons are regularly every Tuesday and Thursday.” 

Zuko turned to Sokka with brows raised, who was already flipping his journal open again and noting it down. 

“I have summer classes, but I’m sure I could figure something out…” he said, using his finger to scan a schedule spread in the journal. 

“He and his pupils would greatly appreciate it,” Iroh said. “Now, did my nephew finish taking you on your  _ tea journey _ ?” Zuko rolled his eyes and Sokka laughed. 

“Yes! There was a lot more to it than I thought. My favorites were…” he flipped to his tea notes and scanned the page again. “Green and both pue--  _ puers _ ?” he said, glancing at Zuko to check his pronunciation.

“Not oolong?” Iroh said, faking offense. 

“It was good!” Sokka replied quickly, a slight smile in place, but obviously not sure if Iroh was joking. “I just really liked the others.” 

Iroh clicked his tongue and leaned toward Zuko. “What kind did you give him?” 

“Um, the  _ dong ding _ , I think?” 

Iroh scoffed. “That’s why. Not  _ tieguanyin _ or  _ da hong pao _ ?” Iroh shook his head. 

Zuko rolled his eyes as he brought another spoonful of soup to his mouth. Glancing at the others’ bowls, he realized Iroh was already finished. As if on cue, Iroh placed a hand on the table and pushed himself to his feet. 

“Well, I need to reopen the shop. It is very nice to meet you, Sokka,” Uncle said, nodding to Sokka who returned the gesture. 

“Pleasure’s all mine…” Sokka said, trailing off as Zuko realized he’d never introduced his uncle officially. 

“Iroh,” Uncle provided. “Or Uncle Iroh, if you like,” he said with laughter in his voice. “I will let you two finish in peace!” 

With that, his uncle disappeared into the front room. 

Sokka was a little over halfway through with his soup, but as soon as Iroh disappeared from view he pushed the bowl away. 

“You were not kidding when you said it was spicy.” 

The sudden apparentness of Sokka’s low spice tolerance surprised a laugh out of Zuko. 

They sat in amicable silence as Zuko finished his soup, then collected the chopsticks and spoons and stacked all three bowls. He wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Well,” Sokka started. “This was fun. I really learned a lot.” 

Zuko nodded. 

“I’ll email Piandao about his schedule-- do you have any preferences for Tuesday or Thursday?” 

Zuko shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I could take a few hours off work,” he said, nodding toward the front room and his uncle. “Whatever works with your classes.”

Sokka nodded and wrote it down in his journal. 

“Wh- what are you writing?” 

“Uh,” Sokka said, pen still moving on the paper. “Just a reminder to email him. I don’t want to chance forgetting to do it,” he said. “Now, I was wondering… My roommate’s got this old teapot, do you think green tea would do okay in that? All this has me thinking maybe I should try out drinking more tea.” 

“You can have a  _ gaiwan _ ,” Zuko said immediately. 

“Oh, that’s okay-- I’m kinda on a student budget so I thought I’d just buy some tea--” 

“No, you can  _ have  _ one, let me…” Zuko said, standing and looking at the shelf where they kept the ones not for sale-- whether sentimental or simply chipped. One of the white porcelain ones had a slightly chipped handle on its lid, and he grabbed it carefully and brought it to the table. “See, this one’s damaged so we can’t sell it, anyway.”

“I couldn’t…” 

“Let me show you how to hold it,” Zuko insisted, showing Sokka how he held out his thumb and middle finger, bending his index and setting the first knuckle of it into the lid handle and grabbing the edge of the bowl with the other two fingers. He removed his hand and slid it closer to Sokka for him to try. When his fingers slid to the wrong place Zuko corrected his grip, dipping the lid to create the space for imaginary tea to escape. He did not notice how soft Sokka’s hands were, nor the sheer tensile strength obvious in the contour in the back of his hand as he gripped the  _ gaiwan _ . Nope. He let go of Sokka’s hand when his placement was just right. 

“Try picking it up,” he encouraged, and Sokka lifted a nervous brow before doing as told and imitating the way he’d seen Zuko tip it to the side. His hand shook and he put it down again quickly, readjusting his grip and trying again. “Good! It’s not hard, is it? You can make tea this way, and maybe snag the strainer out of your roommate’s teapot and pour it into a big cup instead of a share pitcher like I do.” 

Sokka put the  _ gaiwan _ securely back on the table before leaning his elbow on it again, leaning forward and smiled sweetly, and Zuko shot to his feet, almost tripping himself as he went back to the shelf to search for a small box to put the  _ gaiwan _ into for transport. “Here!” he said loudly as he threw a box onto the table beside the  _ gaiwan _ before grabbing it himself and carefully packing it up. 

“Um, the green tea I made for you last week was  _ bi luo chun _ . I’ll go grab some.” 

“Let me pay for that,” Sokka called at Zuko’s back, but he waved a hand over his shoulder. 

He returned with a one ounce bag of it in a moment, having deftly avoided the knowing look on Iroh’s face as he tracked Zuko’s movement through the storefront. He tucked it into the space left in the corners of the box and closed the lid, pressing it into Sokka’s hands. 

“Seriously?” Sokka asked, watching Zuko’s face for any sign that he could push him for compensation. “You’re not going to let me buy any of this?” 

“Absolutely not. Um, let’s say it’s pay back for the museum fees.” 

“But I didn’t pay for admission…” 

Zuko shrugged as Sokka stood. “Regardless,” he assured him once more as Sokka grabbed his satchel and slung it over his shoulder. The box wouldn’t fit in the narrow bag, so he held it with one hand against his hip. 

“Thank you, this is really nice of you.” 

Zuko just shrugged again, words catching in his throat when he realized he was close enough to notice the two inch height difference between them. Too close-- he took a step back, relieved that Sokka didn’t notice as they made their way to the front room together. Zuko lingered near the curtain. 

“Thanks again, this has been really fun. And thank you for dinner, Iroh,” he said, nodding to Iroh once more before meandering toward the door. 

“Take care, Sokka,” Uncle said with a little wave. 

“You too,” Sokka said, and then the bell above the door jangled, signalling his leave. Zuko stood there a moment longer, fists clenched subconsciously, and took a deep breath before releasing it in a sigh. Iroh chuckled, and Zuko’s back stiffened. 

“Have you made a  _ new friend,  _ my nephew?” Uncle asked. 

Zuko frowned at his wording, shoulders stiffening further for a moment before releasing the tension in his shoulders in resignation-- to what he wasn’t sure. 

“Maybe.” 

**Author's Note:**

>  _mei-mei_ \- ty lee's nickname for mai. depending on the tones, could mean little sister or beautiful. it's a play off her name!  
>  _lizi_ \- mai's nickname for ty lee. also a play off her name, could also mean plum. 
> 
> i really wanted to do more with those nicknames this chapter but it just didn't flow unfortunately. maybe next time :)
> 
> also if you wanna check out the [little collage](https://meteor-sword.tumblr.com/post/629563776220430336/meteor-sword-chapters-16-fandom-avatar-the) i made for this fic... please feel free 🥺


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